Customer interaction manager on a point of sale computer

ABSTRACT

An approach is provided for indirectly connecting a customer&#39;s mobile smart device to a point of sale computer located at a business when the customer is making a purchase at the business. The customer&#39;s mobile smart device and the POS computer communicate over the Internet with a customer interaction manager executing on an Internet server. This provides an easy to use interface for the customer and allows the customer to receive information and send requests to the business without having to wait for personnel working at the business to be available.

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Related implementations of the present inventions have been disclosed inthree other copending U.S. patent applications that have the sameassignee as the present patent application. The related copending U.S.patent applications are 1) U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______ (NCR12-1778), filed Nov. 30, 2012 entitled “A CUSTOMER INTERACTION MANAGERON A RESTAURANT COMPUTER”; 2) U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______(NCR 12-1767), filed Nov. 30, 2012 entitled “A CUSTOMER INTERACTIONMANAGER ON A MOBILE SMART DEVICE”; and 3) U.S. patent application Ser.No. ______ (NCR 12-1758), filed Nov. 30, 2012 entitled “A CUSTOMERINTERACTION MANAGER”. The three related copending U.S. patentapplications are hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to managing purchasetransactions. More particularly, but not exclusively, it relates toproviding an alternative channel to interact with a customer during apurchase transaction.

BACKGROUND

Any discussion of prior art throughout the specification should in noway be considered as an admission that such prior art is widely known orforms part of common general knowledge in the field.

Restaurants strive to provide a good customer experience so thatcustomers will return and tell others of their good experience.Providing a good customer experience includes providing quality food butit also includes focusing resources on the customer during their visit.These resources include waitstaff that interacts with the customerduring their visit to monitor and fulfill the customer's needs.

When customer traffic increases, such as during peak dining periods, thewaitstaff can become overloaded and the customer experience is lessenjoyable because the waitstaff fails to identify and fulfill all of thecustomer's needs. This failure may cause the waitstaff and the customersto become frustrated further diminishing the customer experience. Inaddition to diminishing the customer experience, the waitstaff missesopportunities to up-sell the customer or sell additional beverages ormenu items causing the restaurant to miss out on additional revenue.

A similar problem can exist in other types of businesses where acustomer typically waits while a service is being performed or a productis being prepared. During the wait time the customer have little or nocontact with employees of the business since they are usually helpingcustomers that just arrived or are making a payment before leaving. Ifthe customer wants information or a progress update, they must usuallywait in a line with newly arrived customers or try to find an employeethat is not busy. Examples of these kinds of businesses include tirestores, auto repair centers, oil change centers, computer repair stores,restaurants with food take-out area where a customer orders food andwaits for it to be prepared to take home and hospital emergency centerswhere non-critical patients check in and wait, sometimes for hours,before seeing a doctor.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Among its several aspects, the present invention seeks to overcome orameliorate at least one of the disadvantages of the prior art, or toprovide a useful alternative.

Among its several aspects, the present invention recognizes there is anadvantage for a business to create an alternative channel to interactwith a customer where the customer present at the business can initiatean interaction with the business instead of having to wait for anemployee of the business to interact with the customer.

Among its several aspects, one embodiment of the present invention isdirected to methods and systems for connecting customer mobile smartdevices to an Internet server computer that accepts requests from thecustomer located at a business and processes the requests sending someof them to a point of sale server computer at the business that causesthe requests to be performed. The requests may be carried out by the POSserver computer or the POS server computer may send requests topersonnel working at the business requesting them to perform a functionfor the customer.

Among its several aspects, one embodiment of the present inventiondiscloses a customer interaction manager that acts as an intermediarybetween a customer's mobile smart device and the computers used tooperate a business. The customer interaction manager provides a commoninterface that can be used to communicate with different businesseswithout having to have specific applications or knowledge of eachbusiness. A single downloadable application or a web browser can be usedby the mobile smart device to communicate with the customer interactionmanager over the Internet. The customer interaction manager can thencommunicate with the computers used by the business where the customeris located.

For example, a customer may enter a restaurant and be seated at a table.A purchase transaction is started for the customer with a point of saleterminal at the business. The POS terminal communicates informationidentifying the purchase transaction to a customer interaction managerand receives a unique ID for the transaction. The unique ID is given tothe customer with a uniform resource location (URL) for a web siteserviced by the customer interaction manager. The customer, using a webbrowser on a mobile smart device such as a smart phone, displays a webpage at the URL address and enters the unique ID. The customer isauthenticated and now has access to information about the purchasetransaction and can receive information such as specials of the day anddiscount items plus the customer can make requests to the restaurantsuch as ordering additional items or services. The customer interactionmanager also stores details of the customer's purchase and can provideoffers based on prior purchases made at this and other restaurants thatuse the system.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, there isprovided a computer implemented method used by a customer interactionmanager to facilitate an additional method for a customer to interactwith the business to receive faster service and additional options. Tothis end, a method of managing customer interaction with a businessimplemented by a point of sale computer located at the business andcommunicating over the Internet with a server computer is provided. Themethod comprising: starting a purchase transaction for a customerpresent at the business; establishing an Internet session with theserver computer by transmitting a purchase transaction startednotification for the started purchase transaction; receiving a uniqueidentifier from the server computer in response to transmitting thepurchase transaction started notification where the unique identifieruniquely identifies the started purchase transaction; providing theunique identifier and a uniform resource locator (URL) to the customerwhere the URL is an Internet address serviced by the server computer;receiving a request using the Internet session with the server computerover the Internet where the request includes the unique identifier; andprocessing the received request where processing the request includeusing the unique identifier to identify the started purchasetransaction.

A more complete understanding of the present invention, as well asfurther features and advantages of the invention, will be apparent fromthe following Detailed Description and the accompanying Drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The aspects of the claimed invention can be better understood withreference to the Drawings and the Detailed Description. The Drawings arenot necessarily drawn to scale. Throughout the Drawings, like elementnumbers are used to describe the same parts throughout the variousdrawings, figures and charts.

FIG. 1 is a high-level block diagram illustrating an exemplaryembodiment of a Customer Interaction Manager (CIM) system.

FIG. 2 is a high-level block diagram illustrating selected hardwarecomponents of a CIM server computer.

FIG. 3 is a high-level block diagram illustrating selected hardwarecomponents of a POS server computer.

FIG. 4 is a high-level flow chart illustrating selected hardwarecomponents of a mobile smart device used by a customer.

FIG. 5 is a high-level flow chart illustrating an exemplary method ofoperating the customer interaction manager system on a point of salecomputer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, numerous details are set forth to providean understanding of the claimed invention. However, it will beunderstood by those skilled in the art that aspects of the claimedinvention may be practiced without utilizing all of these details andthat numerous variations or modifications from the described embodimentsare possible and envisioned.

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is provided a high-level block diagramillustrating an exemplary embodiment of a customer interaction manager(CIM) system 100. The CIM system 100 includes a restaurant system 105and a customer interaction manager (CIM) 110. The CIM 110 communicates,using a communications network including the Internet 115, to computersand smart devices in the CIM system 100. This embodiment of the CIMsystem 100 depicts a single restaurant system 105 however, it should beunderstood that the CIM system 100 is designed to include thousands ofrestaurants similar to the depicted restaurant system 105. Theadditional restaurants may suitably include independent restaurants andchain restaurants where each chain may include thousands of therestaurants that are part of the CIM system 100.

The restaurant system 105 includes a number of computer devices that areowned or operated by the restaurant system 105. These devices maysuitably include a point of sale (POS) terminal 130, a valet terminal135, a plurality of mobile waitstaff devices (MSD) 140, a jukebox 145, awireless access point 147 and a point of sale (POS) server computer 125in communication with each of the other devices over a local areanetwork 150. The local area network 150 is a wired Ethernet network(IEEE 802.3). The POS server computer 125 is connected to the wirednetwork 150 but one or more of the other devices may be wirelesslyconnected to the network 150 using the wireless access point 147. Thewireless access point 147 supports one or more of the IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n standards. The POS server computer 125 communicates with theInternet 115 over an external network 155. This network 155 may includedifferent types of physical networks.

The POS terminal 130 includes a printer 132 that is used to printreceipts and other documents. In some embodiments, multiple POSterminals 130 are present and they function in a similar manner to thedepicted POS terminal 130.

The plurality of mobile waitstaff devices 140 are used to communicateinformation between the waitstaff and the POS server computer 125. Eachof the mobile waitstaff devices 140 includes a wireless transceiver forcommunicating with the wireless access point 147. Each of the waitstaffmay carry one of the plurality of mobile waitstaff devices 140. The POScomputer server 125 communicates wirelessly to the plurality of mobilewaitstaff devices 140 using the wireless access point 147. In someembodiments, one or more of the waitstaff uses a personal smart device,such as a smart cellular phone, to perform the same functions as one ofthe plurality of mobile waitstaff device 140. The waitstaff functionsare performed on the personal smart device by an application that mustbe downloaded and executed by the personal smart device.

In some embodiments, there is one or more fixed waitstaff terminals andthe POS server computer 125 communicates with some or all of thewaitstaff through these fixed waitstaff terminals. For example, the bararea of a restaurant may use a fixed waitstaff terminal to communicatewith personnel working the bar, but mobile waitstaff devices 140 areused by waitstaff assigned to handle tables. The term fixed means thatthe terminal is placed and used in a fixed location. They may be cabledto a power source or the network 150.

The valet terminal 135 is used to communicate with parking attendantsthat perform a valet parking service for customers of the restaurantsystem 105. It should be noted that not all restaurants provide a valetparking service so not all restaurants will have a valet terminal 135.In some embodiments, the valet terminal 135 is wirelessly connected tothe network 150 using the wireless access point 147.

The jukebox 145 is a device that plays music or other recorded sounds.It can be operated from a control panel on the jukebox 145 or remotelycontrolled by the POS computer server 125. The jukebox 145 may bephysically connected to the network 150 or wirelessly connected to thenetwork 150 using the wireless access point 147.

The restaurant system 105 includes at least one mobile smart device(MSD) 120 that is used by a customer. The MSD 120 is owned by a customerpatronizing the restaurant system 105. To simplify the description, thepresent embodiment depicts a single MSD 120 but it should be appreciatedthat the CIM system 100 is designed to function with a restaurant system105 where multiple customers employ their MSDs 120 and preferably thesystem 100 employs one MSD 120 per table or customer. The MSD 120includes a web browser and connects to the Internet 115 to access webpages from web servers connected to the Internet 115. Examples of an MSD120 include a smart cellular phone, a tablet computer or any portablecomputer with access to the Internet 115. The MSD 120 uses a wirelessnetwork 165 to connect to the Internet 115. The wireless network 165 maysuitably include a cellular network, a WIFI network or a near fieldnetwork such as Bluetooth. The WIFI networks may suitable include IEEE802.11 a/b/g/n wireless networks. In some embodiments, the restaurantsystem 105 includes a fixed computing device at each table that performsthe functions of the MSD 120.

In some embodiments, a network based on near field communications isprovided to the tables in the restaurant system 105. The near fieldcommunications include support for Bluetooth communication with MSDs 120located at a table. The POS server computer 125 can use the near fieldnetwork to communicate with the MSDs 120.

Turning now to FIG. 2, there is provided a high-level block diagramillustrating selected hardware components of a CIM server computer 200that executes the Customer Interaction Manager (CIM) 110. The CIM servercomputer 200 is depicted as a single server computer but it should beappreciated that the CIM 110 can be scaled up and implemented acrossmultiple copies of the server computer 200 allowing the CIM 110 toprovide its service to a large number of restaurants system 105 andmobile smart devices 120. In some embodiments, the CIM 110 isimplemented on multiple server computers where the server computers arelocated in different computer data centers and the computer data centerscan be located in different geographical locations around the world. Insome embodiments, the server computer 200 is a virtual computer, such asthe virtual computer product offered by Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud™.Using such a virtual computer product allows for dynamic scaling of theCIM 110 to meet peek demand at any geographical location around theworld.

The CIM server computer 200 includes at least one processor 210, amemory 215, control circuitry 230 and a network controller 235. Thecontrol circuitry 230 allows the processor 210 to communicate with andcontrol the memory 215 and the network controller 235. While a singleprocessor 210 is depicted, multiple processors and processors withmultiple processor cores are envisioned and within the scope of thisinvention.

The memory 215 uses non-transitory data and program storage devicesincluding both volatile and non-volatile memory. The non-volatile memorymay suitably include flash memory, other types of solid state electronicmemory and rotating storage devices. Computer instructions 220 stored inthe memory 215 are executed by the processor 210 and cause the processor210 to control the devices attached to the server computer 200 and toprovide the services and functions performed by the software elements ofthe CIM 110. The computer instructions 220 comprise software thatincludes an operating system, server applications, a databaseapplication and the software that comprises the CIM 110. The serverapplications include an Internet web server and an email server thatsupports at least simple mail transport protocol (SMTP) to send andreceive email. Data for a database 225 is also stored in the memory 215.

The network controller 235 includes hardware and software required tocommunicate with the high speed network 160 which ultimately connects tothe Internet 115. The connection to the Internet 115 allows the CIMserver computer 200 to communicate with other computers and smartdevices and service requests made to the server computer 200. The CIMserver computer 200 is a web based server and the CIM 110 is a web basedfunction. The CIM computer server 200 connects to the Internet 115 overa network 160. The network 160 may include multiple types of physicalnetworks. The CIM computer server 200 physically connects to a wiredEthernet (IEEE 802.3) network and then logically connects to one or morewide area networks that connect to the Internet 115. In someembodiments, the CIM computer server 200 connects to an optical or otherhigh speed network that allows communications with the Internet 115.

Turning now to FIG. 3, there is provided a high-level block diagramillustrating selected hardware components of a POS server computer 125.The POS server computer 125 includes at least one processor 310, amemory 315, control circuitry 330 and a network controller 335. Thecontrol circuitry 330 allows the processor 310 to communicate with andcontrol the memory 315, the network controller 335 and any othercomponents of the POS server computer 125. While a single processor 310is depicted, multiple processors and processors with multiple processorcores are envisioned and within the scope of this invention.

The memory 315 uses non-transitory data and program storage devicesincluding both volatile and non-volatile memory. The memory may suitablyinclude flash memory (e.g., NOR, NAND), SRAM, DDR SDRAM, other types ofsolid state electronic memory and rotating storage devices. Computerinstructions 320 stored in the memory 315 are executed by the processor310 and cause the processor 310 to control the components of and devicesattached to the POS server computer 125 and to provide the services andfunctions performed by the POS server computer 125. The computerinstructions 320 comprise software that includes an operating system,server applications and POS functions including software that allowspurchase transactions for customers at restaurant system 105.

The network controller 335 includes hardware and software required tocommunicate with the high speed network 155 which connects to theInternet 115. The connection to the Internet 115 allows the POS servercomputer 125 to communicate with other computers connected to theInternet 115. The network controller 335 further includes hardware andsoftware required to communicate with the local area network 150 that isused within the restaurant system 105 to communicate with othercomputers or devices. The other computers and devices may suitablyinclude, but are not limited to, the POS terminal 130, the valetterminal 135, the mobile waitstaff device 140, the wireless access point147 and the jukebox 145. The POS server computer 125 communicates withthe mobile waitstaff devices 140 using the local area network 150 andthe wireless access point 147.

Turning now to FIG. 4, there is provided a high-level block diagramillustrating selected hardware components of the mobile smart device 120used by a customer. The mobile smart device 120 includes at least oneprocessor 410, a memory 415, control circuitry 430, a communicationscontroller 435, a touch screen user display 425 and a global positioningsystem (GPS) device 440. The control circuitry 430 allows the processor410 to communicate with and control the memory 415, the touch screenuser display 425, GPS device 440 and the communications controller 435.While a single processor 410 is depicted, multiple processors andprocessors with multiple processor cores are envisioned and within thescope of this invention. In addition, two or more functions may becombined into a single device.

The memory 415 uses non-transitory data and program storage devicesincluding both volatile and non-volatile memory. The memory may suitablyinclude flash memory (e.g., NOR, NAND), SRAM, DDR SDRAM, other types ofsolid state electronic memory and rotating storage devices. Computerinstructions 420 stored in the memory 415 are executed by the processor410 and cause the processor 410 to control the component and devices ofthe mobile smart device 120 and to provide the features and functionsperformed by the mobile smart device 120. The computer instructions 420comprise software that includes an operating system, software thatcontrols component and device functions, built-in applications anddownloadable applications.

The communication controller 435 includes hardware and software requiredto communicate with multiple types of wireless networks. Thecommunication controller 435 communicates with the wireless cellularnetwork 165 using a first antenna 450. Communicating over the wirelesscellular network 165 allows the mobile smart device 120 to communicatewith the Internet 115. The connection to the Internet 115 allows themobile smart device 120 to communicate with other computers connected tothe Internet 115.

The communication controller 435 further includes hardware and softwarerequired to communicate with a WIFI wireless local area network using asecond antenna 455. The WIFI networks include wireless networks bases onIEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n standards.

The communication controller 435 further includes hardware and softwarerequired to communicate with a near field wireless network using a thirdantenna 460. The near field network includes a Bluetooth based network.

The GPS device 440 determines the location of the MDS 120 by receivingsignals from satellites that are part of an orbiting constellation ofGPS satellites (not shown). Location data from the GPS 440 can beaccessed and used by applications executing on the MSD 120.

The touch sensitive user display 425 is used to send and receiveinformation from a customer using the mobile smart device 120.Information can be displayed on the touch sensitive user display 425 andthe touch sensitive user display 425 can determine the location on thedisplay 425 of one or more touches made by the customer. Thisinformation is used by software executing on the MSD 120 to control thefeatures and functions of the MSD 120.

Turning to FIGS. 5, there is provided high-level flow chartsillustrating exemplary methods of operating the customer interactionmanager system 100. The exemplary method describes the interaction ofthe customer interaction manager 110 executing on the CIM servercomputer 200 with the POS server computer 125 and the MSD 120.

In this example, a customer wishes to dine at a restaurant employing therestaurant system 105. The restaurant is located within a structure thatmay include both enclosed areas and areas open to the elements. Thestructure may include buildings and floating structures such as boats,barges and the like.

In some embodiments, the POS server computer 125 manages the operationof the restaurant including having a list of daily specials and featureditems of the day. This information is updated daily or as needed. ThePOS server computer 125 sends the information to the server computer 200daily or as it is updated. The server computer 200 stores theinformation and provides it to customers that are dining at therestaurant 105.

The customer enters the restaurant, is greeted by restaurant waitstaffand requests to be seated. The waitstaff assigns the customer to a tableand the customer is escorted to and seated at the assigned table. Thewaitstaff, using the POS terminal 130, starts a purchase transaction forthe assigned table and the customer. At this time, the identity of thecustomer may not be known so at least initially, the purchasetransaction is only associated with an ID for the assigned table. Eachtable at the restaurant is assigned a unique ID and the IDs are known tothe waitstaff. Starting the purchase transaction includes making a“start purchase transaction request” to the POS server computer 125,using the POS terminal 130.

The POS server computer 125 creates a record for the purchasetransaction. The record is stored in a database. The record may be asingle record with a large number of fields stored in a table in thedatabase or the record may include fields that point or link to otherrecords in the same table or other tables in the database. The recordinitially only includes the assigned table ID where the customer isseated but will be updated to include details for all items ordered bythe customer. The items include all food, drinks, merchandise and otherservices or products provided to the customer. The record will alsoinclude a running total for the items and when payment is made, theamount and type of payment. The record also includes the time, date andlength of the purchase transaction.

At some point during the purchase transaction, the customer may beidentified and this information is also stored in the record. The itemand payment information can be entered from any of the terminals ordevices used by the waitstaff of the restaurant. Payment applicationsoftware can also provide customer identification information when usedto process the customer's payment.

When the POS server computer 125 creates the record for the purchasetransaction, it also creates a “purchase transaction startednotification”. This notification includes the assigned table ID and arestaurant ID. The POS server computer 125 then transmits thenotification to the customer interaction manager 110 executing on theCIM server computer 200, using the Internet 115. The purchasetransaction is ended when payment is made by the customer. When thepurchase transaction ends, the POS server computer 125 creates a“purchase transaction complete notification” and sends it to thecustomer interaction manager 110 executing on the CIM server computer200, using the Internet 115. This notification includes the uniqueidentification and causes the customer interaction manager 110 toterminate the purchase transaction and to close communications with theMSD 140.

The CIM server computer 200 executes the customer interaction manager110. The functions described as performed by the server computer 200 areperformed as a result of the processor 210 executing the instructions220 stored in the memory 215 including instruction comprising thecustomer interaction manager 110.

The processor 310 in the POS server computer 125 executes software thatcontrols the POS server computer 125 and the other terminals and devicesconnected to network 150. The software also performs customertransactions and controls the operation of the restaurant. Additionally,the software interacts with the customer interaction manager 110executing on the server computer 200 using network 155 and 160.

Referring now to FIG. 5. At step 502, the POS server computer 125 startsa purchase transaction for a customer that is present at a business. Inthis example, the business is a restaurant. The customer has entered arestaurant and has been seated at a table for dining. Waitstaff, using aPOS terminal 130, started a purchase transaction for the customer andstored information identifying the customer's table with the purchasetransaction.

At step 504, the POS server computer 125 establishes as Internet sessionwith the server computer. After the purchase transaction is started, thePOS server computer 125 creates a “purchase transaction startednotification” and transmits it to the server computer 200, over networks155 and 160. The server computer 200 then establishes a logical Internetsession with the POS server computer 125 over networks 160 and 155. TheInternet session is used by the two computers to send and receive datato each other.

At step 506, the POS server computer 125 receives a unique identifier(ID) that identifies the purchase transaction from the server computer200 using the Internet session. The server computer 200 generated aunique ID based on the purchase transaction information in thenotification and transmitted it back to the POS server computer 125 overnetworks 160 and 155.

Steps 502 through 506 can be performed prior to the customer beingseated. For example, the waitstaff requests a table assignment for thenext available table able to accommodate the customer and any guests.The POS server computer 125 assigned a table, starts a purchasetransaction, sends a “purchase transaction started notification” to theservice computer 200 and receives the unique identifier all before thecustomer leaves the greeting area to be seated. In this case, the POSterminal 130 prints the URL, unique ID and table ID on a paper which thewaitstaff takes and gives to the customer after conducting them to theirtable.

At step 508, the POS server computer 125 provides the unique ID and auniform resource locator (URL) for a web page to the customer. The URLpoints to a web address that is serviced by the server computer 200.

At step 510, the POS server computer 125 receives a request from theserver computer 200 using the Internet session where the requestincludes unique ID.

At step 512, the POS server computer 125 processes the request from step510. The request includes the unique ID which is used to identify thecustomer's purchase transaction that was started in step 502. Processingthe request includes perform any number of different functions includingrequesting: waitstaff go to the customer's table, waitstaff to bring adrink to the customer's table and to add the drink to the purchaseorder, waitstaff to refill a drink at the customer's table, an item tobe added to the customers purchase order which could require sending amessage to the kitchen to prepare the item, that the customer's vehiclebe brought up, a check be brought to the customer, a pickup of a paymentfrom the customer, playing a request on a jukebox and splitting theitems on the purchase transaction.

In some embodiments, the customer may have to wait for a table to becomeavailable before they can be seated. In this case, the waitstaff, usingthe POS terminal 130, starts a purchase transaction for the customer.The POS terminal 130 prints out a paper that includes a URL to a website serviced by the server computer 200 with a unique ID that wasgenerated by the server computer 200 after the POS terminal 130 startedthe purchase transaction for the customer. The process is the same asdescribed above for starting a purchase transaction.

The customer then proceeds to a waiting area and accesses the web siteusing the URL and enters the unique ID provided. The POS server computer125 has communicated to the server computer 200 that the customer iswaiting to be seated so the server computer 200 provides a different setof selectable actions from those provided when the customer is seated attable for dining. These actions allow the customer to receive anestimated wait time for seating or a notice that they can now be seated.This information is provided by the server computer 200 which receivesupdates from the POS server computer 125 about the customer and the waittimes.

The customer may also requests drinks from a bar in the restaurant orcomplete customer satisfaction surveys or review information aboutspecials of the day or other promotional information. A request for adrink is sent to the POS server computer 125 which sends the request tothe a POS terminal located at the bar.

When the customer is seated at a table, the table ID for that table isassociated with the purchase transaction and the server computer 200 isnotified that the customer has been seated. The server computer 200 thenchanges the selectable actions the customer can select from to thoseactions defined for a customer seated at a table.

Although particular reference has been made to an embodiment thatincludes a POS server computer interacting with a customer interactionmanager and examples have been provided illustrating the invention in arestaurant environment, certain other embodiments, variations andmodifications are also envisioned within the spirit and scope of theclaims. For example, while the majority of the discloser is made in thecontext of a presently pictured restaurant system embodiment, it will berecognized that aspects of the present invention may be suitablyemployed in a wide array of business contexts where improved customerservice may be achieved through improved communications between thebusiness and the customer.

The invention is envisioned to function in businesses that normally havecustomers waiting for a service to be performed. For example, in a tirestore it is typical for a customer to wait while store personnel eitherput on new tires or service old tires on the customer's vehicle. At sometime during the purchase transaction, the customer is given a URL to aweb site and a unique identifier that identifies the purchasetransaction. The customer may then use their mobile smart device 140 toaccess the web site using the Internet and using the unique identifierreceive updates on the status of the work, time to completion, thecurrent costs or a request to meet store personnel to discuss an issueor to request information. The customer may also receive marketinginformation about additional items for purchase and could have messagesposted to social media sites. The customer may also provide feedback tothe business about the customer experience.

Examples of other types of businesses that may suitably benefit from theinvention include auto repair centers, oil change centers, computerrepair stores, restaurants with food take-out area where a customerorders food and waits for it to be prepared to take home and hospitalemergency centers where non-critical patients check in and wait,sometimes for hours, before seeing a doctor.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of managing customer interaction with abusiness implemented by a point of sale computer located at the businessand communicating over the Internet with a server computer, the methodcomprising: starting a purchase transaction for a customer present atthe business; establishing an Internet session with the server computerby transmitting a purchase transaction started notification for thestarted purchase transaction; receiving a unique identifier from theserver computer in response to transmitting the purchase transactionstarted notification where the unique identifier uniquely identifies thestarted purchase transaction; providing the unique identifier and auniform resource locator (URL) to the customer where the URL is anInternet address serviced by the server computer; receiving a requestusing the Internet session with the server computer over the Internetwhere the request includes the unique identifier; and processing thereceived request where processing the request include using the uniqueidentifier to identify the started purchase transaction.
 2. The methodof claim 1, wherein the business is a restaurant.
 3. The method of claim2, wherein the purchase transaction includes customer locationinformation where the customer location information specifies where thecustomer is seated within or near the restaurant.
 4. The method of claim1, wherein providing the unique identifier and the URL to the customerincludes printing the unique identifier and the URL as readable textusing a printer.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the uniqueidentifier and URL to the customer includes creating an optical codeencoded with information that includes the unique identifier and the URLand printing the optical code using a printer.
 6. The method of claim 5,wherein the optical code is a Quick Response (QR) bar code.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, wherein providing the unique identifier and the URLto the customer includes wirelessly transmitting data to a mobile smartdevice operated by the customer.
 8. The method of claim 7, whereinwirelessly transmitting data includes using near field communications totransmit the data where the transmitter is located proximate to thecustomer.
 9. The method of claim 7, wherein wirelessly transmitting dataincludes using Wi-Fi communications to transmit the data.
 10. The methodof claim 3, wherein providing the unique identifier and the URL to thecustomer includes wirelessly receiving, from a mobile smart deviceoperated by the customer, location information and transmitting theunique identifier and the URL to the mobile smart device if the receivedlocation information matches the customer location information from thepurchase transaction.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the locationinformation wirelessly received from the mobile smart device is providedby a global position system in the mobile smart device.
 12. The methodof claim 10, wherein the location information wirelessly received fromthe mobile smart device is encoded in an optical code located proximateto the customer and an image of the optical code is wirelessly receivedfrom the mobile smart device.
 13. The method of claim 1, whereinproviding the unique identifier and the URL to the customer includestransmitting the data using text messaging to a mobile smart deviceoperated by the customer.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein processingthe received request includes adding an item to the purchasetransaction.
 15. The method of claim 13, wherein adding the item to thepurchase transaction includes sending a notice to an employee of thebusiness to deliver the added item to the customer.
 16. The method ofclaim 1, wherein processing the received request includes sending anotice to an employee of the business to provide a service to thecustomer.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the notice to the employeeincludes instructions to physically deliver a bill detailing the itemsof the purchase transaction to the customer.
 18. The method of claim 16,wherein the notice to the employee includes instructions to physicallyretrieve a form of payment for the purchase transaction from thecustomer.
 19. The method of claim 1, further comprising: processing apayment for the purchase transaction; transmitting a list of items inthe purchase transaction to the server computer using the Internetsession; and terminating the Internet session with the server computer.20. One or more non-transitory digital storage media storinginstructions which, when executed by one or more computing devices,cause performance of the method recited in claim 1.